December in review

OK, so next year we are going to start school in the middle of August and just take from Thanksgiving to New Year's off...  Good grief.  We did some fun stuff- a craft day with friends at Newlife, a day at Acres of Fun with the Oswalt's, ringing bells at the Fredericktown Christmas Walk, a program at church (Wyatt had a solo and did great both services!!) and Cub Scouts of course!!  We had a check up with the ENT that took their tonsils out and scheduled it at the same time as a friend and had a fun breakfast before hand and then went to visit my sweet little niece and sister in law afterwards.  Wyatt also had an appointment with an allergist that ended up being a waste of time :(  The tests came back that he had no allergies!!  After talking to my mom I guess my tests were the same way when I was younger...  We're both broke!!  We also had tons of fun with family and friends during the Christmas week :)  On the 17th we spent the day with Brian's dad and his family (we all had fun passing the baby around!!).  On Christmas Eve Eve we had a beautiful Candlelight service at church (and super yummy hot chocolate afterwards with the Hoamies!!).  We spent Christmas Eve morning unwrapping presents at home and then that evening with Brian's mom and grandma.  We had church Christmas morning and then spent the afternoon at my mom's.  Whew!!  Lots of fun!!
School wise we only had 31 hours this month :(  We did school the first week and then just reading and math for the rest.  Oops!!  Austin read the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Cabin Fever and Wyatt is reading the first book in the 31 Clues series.  I was worried until I did my lesson plans for January.  We're over halfway with hours and going with 4 9 week periods we're still done by June 1st!!  Not bad...

My not New Year's resolution, just something I'm starting in Jan...

I hate popular things, so I HATE jumping on the band wagon of making New Year's Resolutions.  BUT, our family is done the dangerous road of being very unhealthy.  We don't eat vegetables or fruits everyday (forget every meal), we eat too much junk food and not nearly enough protein.  We are teaching our boys HORRIBLE habits!!  So, I've been looking online for papers and 'lesson plans' on healthy eating for our whole family.  Side effect- I could lose a little weight :D  But, I refuse to go on a 'diet' because dieting people drive me insane!!  So, we are making a family life style change :)  We're starting in January because who can not eat this time of year???  LOL  Another side effect is hopefully Austin will gain some weight!!  He's dangerously skinny :(  And he has made comments like "that makes me look fat" or "I can't eat that, I'm on a diet" so we're praying that teaching us all to eat healthy will change his attitude on his body image...  I thought only girls were supposed to have that problem!!!  So, feel free to offer advice or encouragement, or if you're mean feel free to keep your thoughts to yourself :D

November in review

OK, so the biggest homeschooling myth I can bust now...

"Homeschoolers never leave their house and the kids don't know what the outside world is." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA We're NEVER home!!  The boys can do their math in the car, at the Drs office, at Kokosing....  Never leave their house...

November as a whole was not much better than October :(  Ugh.  Between drs appointments, the boys tonsil removal and Thanksgiving we only had about 90 hours this month :(  Oh well.  I've had a couple people tell me that some people take all of December off and now I know why!!!  It's just so stinkin' busy!!  But, I already have my lesson plans wrote out through the 9th, and it would take too much effort to erase, so we're going to keep on keeping on.  I think after that we'll just do reading and math.  We're not going to get all the science and history I have written to do done anyways so we can use that time to catch up so we can start fresh in January. 

We didn't have a whole lot of extracurriculars this month, which was SO NICE!!!!  Scouts was about it and we had a community dinner we volunteered at and the Mt Vernon Christmas parade.

Books we read this month were Walking the World's Rim, Pedro's Journal and Ok-Nas-Toe, all with the Sonlight curriculum we started this month.  The boys really enjoyed these books and I know more about Indians in the one I read than I ever knew!!

Hours for the month- 95, so Wyatt's at 425 and Austin's at 411.  Almost half way to to the total hours we need at the end of November!!  This is pretty easy peesy!!!

This is what I made to give to the people who bought popcorn from us...  I love my scrapbook software!!

The boys' thankful trees :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

OK, so I could have done the FB thankful thing, but I over post as it is and this way I don't have to totally be appropriate!!  LOL  So, here's my thankful list- in no particular order...
-Brian- because he's AMAZING and after 11 years I can say the more I get to know him the more I love him and the more he knows me he still hasn't left...
- Austin- because 1 Brian wasn't enough in my life wasn't enough I needed to create a mini one...
- Wyatt- because God has a sense of humor I created a mini me...
- My family- because there has to be a reason Tums were made
- Brian's family- because there had to be a reason Prozac was made
- My church family- God's way of apologizing for all the above...
- My house- so we stay humble and don't think too highly of ourselves
- Being able to homeschool- because being judged and ridiculed is really a lot of fun
- My friends- because Lord knows if I only had Brian and the boys to talk to I'd walk in front of a semi
- God- because he loves me enough to give me all the above :)

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe..."
Hebrews 12:28

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."
Colossians 3:15

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Things are looking up!!

Yay!!  The boys are bouncing back!!  Wyatt is outside playing with our neighbor and Austin played in his sandbox for a while and is now sitting next to me eating Fritos and drinking milk :)  It was a long weekend though.  Austin wasn't eating much and if you know Austin you know that isn't good (he's a walking stick figure...) and Wyatt isn't sleeping well and his ears have been hurting alot (which is normal...) but I think the main problem was we were all not feeling well because we wern't doing anything!!  So I think everybody's feeling better now that we're active again.  We started school back up today and the boys were A-OK with everything!!  OH!!  We started our new history today, Sonlight.  It was great!!  The boys enjoyed all the reading much more than the short lessons of Mystery of History.  Also, babysitting is going well...  I was a little nervous that it would be too much distraction, but the boys do very well doing work alone in their rooms!!
OK, that's all I got for now...

Surgery Day!

Welp, we did it.  We made it through.  I am aware that tonsillectomy's are pretty routine, but those were still my babies!!  Ugh.  We got to the Ohio Surgery Center a little early this morning because traffic was lighter than expected and were happy to sit with our good friend Skyler for a few minutes before his daughter went back for a procedure.  The boys were still very OK at this point.  Then they called us back and they put their gowns on and we watched cartoons, and the boys trash talked to each other "I'm going to eat more popsicles than you" "You're going to cry more than me" "My tonsils are going to be bigger than yours"...  Good grief...  They sprayed scents in their face masks and Austin LOVED the watermelon in his (Wyatt has strawberry).  He held it up to his face for the hour he waited!!  LOL  It was making us laugh!  Wyatt was going first so they brought him his 'loopy' medicine and we were so bummed!!  He didn't act funny or loopy at all :(  So disappointing :(  So they came to get him and wheeled him back and he was nervous but didn't cry which surprised me.  They told me afterwards that he started crying before they put him to sleep (But more about Wyatt in a minute...).  So then they came and gave Austin his 'loopy' medicine and it was slightly more entertaining- but not much.  Honestly that was the part we were looking towards the most!!  What a let down!!  He did act a little funny but mostly it just relaxed him.  Before Austin went back Dr Hart came in to let me know that Wyatt had done well, that when she went to do his turbinate reduction he was bleeding so much she ended up doing his septoplasty too (all to say she cauterized his nasal passages so he can breathe easier and then cauterized the blood vessels in the middle of his nose to stop nose bleeds).  She took his tonsils out but his adenoids had already shrunk (?) so she didn't have to mess with those.  So, they came and got Austin, who said "see you later" and Brian and I went to wait in the waiting room.  I think it was 10 minutes and they called us to the consultation room where Dr Hart came to tell us that Austin's surgery went good as well.  His adenoids had shrunk as well so she only had to remove his tonsils, which were HUGE she said.  I guess that's good...  While we were there a nurse came to tell Wyatt needed us immediately.  So we go back to Wyatt who is screaming at the nurses to "leave me alone, let me sleep, stop touching me!!!!!"  He was hitting them and screaming at them, it was terrible.  He wasn't fully awake, his eyes weren't open, he was just raging!!  Ugh!!  He wanted me to hold him with my cheek touching his cheek and I wasn't allowed to move, and then he finally went back to deep sleep.  Around then is when we started hearing Austin yelling and I looked at Brian and said "you've got to be kidding, both of them are going to be psycho?"  He only yelled a couple times though, they wheeled him in with us and stayed awake and drank water and chewed ice and did great!!  After 30 more minutes the nurse came and walked Austin who walked like a champ and then we moved to Wyatt.  Again, he was screaming and hitting and would not open his eyes!!  So the nurse still wanted to walk him, so we walked him and he fought us and still did not open his eyes- laid down went right back to sleep.  A half hour after that we dressed him against his will, put him in the van and he slept the whole way home!!  Finally woke up when we got off 71 and wanted a milk shake and has been fine since :)  They are both very sore (obviously) and they are definitely not the troopers some kids are, but we're still proud of them :D

Wyatt after he got his 'non loopy' medicine :)

Austin feeling very relaxed...

Wyatt REFUSING to wake up...  He loved his little bear he got :)

Austin mad cause I was blocking the TV :)

October

Well, from a homeschooling standpoint- I'm glad October is done!!  We had alot of soccer, scout meetings, a scout campout (for Bri and Austin), a church retreat for the boys, an afternoon at the Bird Sanctuary, Brian spent a week in St Louis, I spent a day sick and then we had our normal school stuff!!  Brian and I got to escape reality and go out to dinner with our friends and go see Tim Hawkins- which was great!!  He is hysterical!!  While I felt we started the school year out great we really slacked this month.  We got up late and I was less disciplined about doing things.  I mean, we would read the history lesson, but most days did not do the activity.  We would do math, but not go over flash cards.  So, November we are starting fresh with good attitudes and we're going to be self controlled!!  Of course, November is going to be a challenge.  We're taking off a couple days for the boys upcoming surgeries (tonsillectomy and adeniod-ectomy and Wyatt is having a turbinate reduction) and then Thanksgiving of course.  I'm also going to start babysitting again 1 day a week.  3 year old twins that I babysat last year whom I ADORE!!!  I think it will go well and we really need the added income.  BUT, this weekend is our last for soccer for the fall!!  So, that will slow our lives down signicantly :)
Month in review: 124 hours bringing our total to Wyatt- 331, Austin- 316 (Austin will catch up by the end of the year with scouts...)
Fun books they've read: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Darth Paper Strikes Back,  Masters of Disasters, Treasure Island and Lawn Boy.
Goals: Go on a fun field trip, get up and start school by 9, spend more time reading aloud

                                                    HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!!!

    Lazy Halloween costumes...  They just wore their quad riding gear....  Got lots of candy though!!

(Sappiness alert) My sweet 10 year old...

I meant to write this yesterday and didn't have time!!  Sweet Austin turned 10 years old yesterday :)  I can't believe he's a decade old!!  I remember bringing him home and he was so little!!  Then his first birthday...  Wearing a little Nascar outfit walking out talking about John Deere tractors and excavators and excited about his pedal tractor that was WAY too big!!  LOL  Then as a little preschooler at the Methodist Church walking in with his little backpack with his best friend Paige...  Then he started school and was so excited to be his friends!!  3 years later we've struggled through many things together and I'm so proud of the young man he is!!  Brian and I feel very blessed to have such a caring and funny son :)
Happy 10th Birthday Austin!!!

Yawn...

Well, it's been a busy 2 weeks!!  Brian's brother had their first baby girl 2 weeks ago!!  So we rushed to Columbus to hold her.  She was so sweet and tiny!!  Praise God for a healthy baby and Mommy and a good delivery!!  Then that weekend we took the boys to an amazing program called Kidventure at Pleasant Valley Ranch.  It was setup like we were entering another country where Christianity was not allowed and we were missionaries trying to get in and live there.  It was so pretty there and the boys learned how awesome it is that we live in such a free country that we can worship freely.  Of course, Wyatt had a soccer game Saturday night, so we stayed late Friday and then went home so we could take Wyatt to his game.  He played an awesome game against a very hard team and they won!!  We were very proud of our boys :)  The next week was just as crazy, we took Brian to the airport Monday for a work trip to St Louis and he didn't get home til late Thursday.  Of course in between we had scouts (where I had to collect all the money and finish the stuff for Fall Campout) church (where I signed up to bring dinner to the college students that night, which was fun but busy) and music lessons (Wyatt started guitar lessons this week, so we had to find a guitar (Thanks Amy!!) and then he promptly broke a string so I had to go find a new one).  My phone also broke and I had to go to Polaris to pick up my new one (because that's where I had them send it for some reason).  Ugh.  Then on Friday Brian and Austin left for Cub Scout Fall Campout.  I had NO desire to go so totally used Wyatt's soccer game on Saturday as an excuse to stay home :D  After his game we went to Columbus with our good friends' the Hoam's and spent the day at Buckeye Game Fest, playing games and having fun.  Then they came home on Sunday and I spent the rest of the night doing laundry.
Hit repeat.
Ugh.
How's school going?  Eh.  I'm worn out and tired.  The boys are whiney and have been bickering the last couple days.  We need to get back on track and are heading that way this week.  We are LOVING out Pilgrim's Progress!!  One of our vocab words was Tophet.  Which means Hell or a bad place.  Yesterday during math Wyatt through his book on the floor and said "Doing subtraction problems is like being in tophet!!!"  Great.  At least they're learning something!!  Haha


This is the BEAUTIFUL scenery at Pleasant Valley Ranch

This Wyatt and the Hoam's playing a game at Buckeye Game Fest 

Goodbye GCS

Oh, the lessons we learn...  After much prayer and discussion Brian and I pulled Austin and Wyatt out of the Gilead Christian program.  I'm learning that what we do needs to work for us and be conveniant, and those classes were not.  First, they were about 40 minutes away.  After 3 weeks I was annoyed with that.  Second, the classes were at an awkward time for us.  We had to leave at 11, which only left enough morning time for devotions and math and we didn't get home til after 3, too late for us to be motivated to do anything else.  Third, we decided we could do things more suitable to our family for the money we were spending.  Austin was already doing drum lessons and Wyatt wants to do guitar lessons, so there's our music.  Wyatt already plays a sport every season and we really want the boys to have swim lessons, so there's our gym.  We do activities for both Science and History plus some fun crafty stuff for free time, so there's our art.  Austin never did enjoy it so he was thrilled to not go, and we promised Wyatt he would still see his friends often, plus with the guitar lessons, he was good.  It's a good program, but not for us!! 

My broken kids...

I have terrible social skills.  I talk too much, I talk too loudly, I'm too annoyingly happy, I jump subjects, I make inappropriate comments, I try to be funny too much...  You name it.  And my poor sweet Austin has all the same social issues I have and I feel so bad for him!!  I think of all the embarrassing, WRONG things I did in school and I watch him do them too :(  It breaks my heart :(  One of his main problems is making friends.  He doesn't have many and hasn't learned to value the ones he has.  We've seen a turn around in him since taking him out of public schools, and he's doing better.  So, our CONSTANT prayer for Austin is that his relationship with Christ would grow deeper and with the Holy Spirits help he's be able to grow relationships with other people.
And then there's Wyatt.  Wyatt has my temper and my irrationality (I think that's a word).  At the beginning of soccer season, during practice, Wyatt had a complete asthma attack.  Scared the coaches, him and me.  Well, we got him medicated and inhalers and all that and he's doing somewhat better.  NOW it's a head thing.  He's terrified it's going to happen again!!!  It's so hard to watch him tentatively play soccer and not look like he's trying hard when we're so used to the Wyatt who goes %200 percent and never stops!!  It's even more frustrating that we lose our patience with him and cheer (scream and yell) for him to try harder and to show aggression and then watch him sob because he's too scared too!!  Our prayer for him is that his fear would melt away, NOT because we want him to play better soccer, but because it breaks our hearts to see him so discouraged...
You know, we do our best for our kids, and we do everything we can so they don't make all the mistakes we made.  And then we look at the kids we've created with all the problems we wanted to prevent!!!!!  It's a good thing God loves our kids more than we can ruin them...

Our new normal... For now...

So, we've finally found a routine that's pretty flexible to our crazy life.  My goal of getting up before the boys almost never happens...  But, instead of getting discouraged, we start when I'm ready!!  So most mornings Wyatt's up playing with the dogs while I'm showering.  Austin doesn't get up til I threaten his life.  We usually don't start school til 9-930.  I have FINALLY gotten over feeling guilty if we don't start right away.  If we do an actual Bible lesson (we read a chapter every morning) we run til about 130-2 (taking about 30 min off for lunch).  With no Bible we're done by 11.  Bible really does take about an extra hour!!  I really want to drop it but feel like since we bought it we should finish it.  If we do 2 a week (which we've been doing) we'll be done by Christmas.  My favorite subject is Mystery of History!!  Mostly because there's usually a fun activity for us to do.  We do that 3 times a week.  Austin's favorite subject (and Wyatt's least) is Math.  We do this everyday.  I've been also trying to do flash cards at least 2 days a week.  I'm hoping if Wyatt learns his math facts better he won't hate math so much!!  He almost always gets perfect scores, but it takes him longet than Austin and that drives him nuts.  Wyatt's favorite subject (and Austin's least) is reading.  For reading I've been letting them pick their own books.  Austin is reading The Strange Case of Origami Yoda and Wyatt is reading Darth Paper Strikes back (he already read Yoda).  I love listening to them laugh out loud while reading!!!  As soon as I'm done with my Bible stuff we're going to start Pilgrim's Progress, which I can't wait to start!!!  Wednesdays are a struggle for us because we only have til 11 for school and we have to dressed to leave the house, so we just don't get much done.  And on Thursdays Austin has drum lessons and that interrupts the day, but I feel we've got it under control!!!  Our evenings SUCK!!!  We don't one evening a week where don't have stuff, which is a bit overwhelming.  When it rains, it pours!!!  I was trying to make plans with a friend and we don't have a free day til the end of October!!  Ugh!!!  Between church stuff, cub scouts, someone's 10th birthday and a Nascar race the weekends are covered!!  But, we're never bored!!!

TGIF

Had my first meeting with the IS director at school and...  TADA!!!  I havn't broken my kids yet!!  WOOHOO!!!!!  It made for a rough day though...  We had a late start (it was too cold to get up!!) and didn't really start the day til 10, and had to leave at 1215 to get gas and get to Mt Gilead on time.  Man, I am SICK of not being home!! 
We did the science cross word puzzles I made today.  Wyatt thought it was fun and was excited he knew alot before looking at his notes.  Austin just counted the letters in the words and found the spaces that had the right amount of squares...  We fought a little with Roman Numerals during math.  Not with each other, with the dumb math.  My friend Nate explained that they're very important to know, but I'm still skeptical.  I think we'll bounce off those AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!  Ugh.  We've been lazy with math, me just letting them do the workbooks, but starting next week we're going to do some of the extra things they say to do and I'm hoping that will help, or at the least we need to break out the flash cards for Wyatt, he really struggles with the answers and then gets VERY angry when Austin is done way before him... 
After our meeting I went to help at the Methodist Church's tailgate party.  They pretty much just needed a female present!  It was so ackward to be there with so many people I didn't know in a ministry area I'm not involved with at all.  I was very happy when there were other female adults there and I could leave.  People think I'm outgoing, but I really only do well when I can latch on to someone.  If there's noone there for me to "be" with then I just flounder uncomfortably.
Then, I rushed home to go out to eat with my hubby!!!  Only to find he had to go help cut out scout stuff for an upcoming campout :(  I had planned on my sister watching the boys, so she just ended up going with me.  Best part of the night was when we were talking to Wyatt about Christina losing her job.  He said "How can you lose it, it's by the mall"  Then we explained she was looking for something new and he suggested looking at McDonalds and she said she applied.  His response "Don't you just walk in and say I'd like a job and a side of fries???"  No buddy, not quite!!!  We went to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings (which was expensive and not as good as I was expecting).  After that we went to Staples where for revenge on Brian I bought a purple flowery thing for him to use for Scouts :)  Then I grocery shopped which for reason DRAINED THE ENERGY OUT OF ME.  Ugh.  Worst thing there was not counting the buy 10 items get $5 off right.  I was missing one, and only 29 items.  Suck.  I was too tired to care anymore.  And now I'm sitting here waiting for Brian to get home.  I'm actually getting cross eyed I'm so tired!!!  Thank God it's Friday and I can SLEEP IN !!!!!!  WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!

This stay at HOME, HOMEschooling mom is NEVER HOME!!

What a week, and it's only Thursday!!  We were completely over scheduled this week (all good stuff) :(  Monday was our only day to be home all day!!  YUCK!!  This was our week...

Sun- Church, soccer pics, small group (clean house for small group :D)
Mon- School, soccer game
Tues- School, my Bible Study, scouts
Weds- School, Wyatt's drs appt, school, GCS, church
Thurs- School, drum lesson, school, get together to do scout stuff (cancelled it!!!!!)
Fri- School, monthly meeting with GCS director, go help at Methodist church Tailgate party
Sat- Pictures, soccer practice, Sonfest

I'm EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!  The boys are OK, though a little extra wired today...  Ugh.  Next week is worse!!  They have specialist appts at Children's on Weds in the morning, so no school that day and we're going the Farm Science Review on Thurs, so no school then either!!  Holy Kamoley!!!  I thought homeschooling families went weeks without leaving their houses...  Boy was I wrong!!  Misconception smashed to pieces!!  We're learning how to manage it though :)  Today we did some work, went to drum lessons, had lunch and playtime then they were AOK with finishing up.  Hope they still this flexible!!  And I'd still rather be this busy then BORED OUT OF MY MIND!!!!! 
On a different note, the boys had their first classes at Gilead Christian yesterday.  Wyatt LOVED it (no surprise) and Austin didn't care for it at all (no surprise).  I'm praying Austin will make some friends and look forward to it, but he was crying yesterday "why can't we homeschool like the Hoam's and never leave the house!!!"  Sigh...  I'm also not completely sold on the program.  We'll definitely finish out the year (because we're paying for it) but I'm already not looking forward to having to go EVERY Wednesday...  It'll be easier when they both like it.  The free time was nice, but I get free time at home in the afternoons when we actually stay home!!!

Here's a picture of them going into school :)

HS Fail

So, today was our first day of failure.  I'm trying to remember that if they'd gone to school they would have done much less!!  The boys both had dentist appointments at 10, so we only did Bible, culture and spelling before we left.  Then, since we were right by Brian's grandma, we stopped and visited with her for about an hour.  After lunch we did math and Pen Time (their handwriting) and they read and wrote in their journals.  Then I spent 2 hours on the phone :(  FAIL.  We were supposed to do Geography and Science.  Tomorrow is going to take 11 hours now.  If they were in school they would have missed all morning, not gotten to visit Bri's gma and maybe had gym and reading in the afternoon, so we did more at home, but the phone tied me up and we didn't do stuff :(  Lesson learned- we really don't do well in the afternoons!!!!

Our first week :)

Well, we made it through our first week and learned a lot :)  I learned that I LOVE getting up before the boys and being ready to go before waking them up and that we can't have lazy mornings and start late because then the boys are too easily destracted.  Wednesday night we went to the fair and Jill and I were so excited that Austin was actually riding rides (thanks Nana)!!!  Well, midnight that night he puked ALL OVER his room.  Like projectile....  Gross.  So we didn't start school til 1030 the next day and made it a light day.  Took FOREVER to get through the 4 things we had because they WOULD NOT focus.  So now we know :)  We do better at 830 :) 
I also want to know if mumbling is genetic.  Austi n mumbles just like Brian does!!  We read aloud a chapter of the Bible every morning and I constantly say "speak up, Buddy", which he does for about 2 sentances.  He is such a mini Brian.
I also learned that Wyatt is a little slower than Austin at math.  Which causes tears.  Everyday.  Fun.

So, at the end of August Wyatt has 73 hours and Austin has 57.  (Wyatt has more because of soccer, but Austin will catch up because of scouts).  We have to get to 900.  I think we need more field trips...

The first day of school!!

Well, we made it through the first day.  I thought it went really well, Austin loved it and Wyatt's in his room pouting :)  We started with pictures at around 830 (an early start, we were all excited).  Then we started reading aloud from the Bible.  I started with Mark 1 for no reason.  It was random!!  We enjoyed our time reading and praying and then got into our Bible lesson from our Answers for Kids curriculum from Answers in Genesis.  I think it's all really redundant and will probably NOT do an actual curriculum for Bible again, though I want to finish this since I bought it and it won't hurt anything!!  Than we did math, which caused some tears.  Austin raced through his math and got done quickly, about 30 minutes before Wyatt finished, not because he's better, but because Wyatt was being a perfectionist and was just going slow!!!  After that we did history, which was about creation (I am SOOOO sick of creation!!!  LOL) and started making creation booklets to remember what God made on what days.  Then we did Language, which was super easy and quick, but I made them use it as handwriting time as well.  Then we wrote down our spelling saying for the week from our Charlotte Mason spelling book (I am; I can; I ought; I will.).  Then we did geography books and were done!!  Well, after they read for 20 minutes and wrote 3 sentances about what they read. 
My biggest high of the day was Austin exclaiming over and over "I love this!!" and biggest low of the day was Wyatt crying that he wanted to go to school :)  Yes, that's the opposite of how it started!!  LOL
My biggest worry is that everything only took about 3 and a half hours.  We need to average more than that!!  I'm waiting til next week to start science though, so I'm sure that will help...

Creation Museum

We spent Saturday at the Creation Museum in Cincinnati.  First off, some wonderful friends gave us 2 comp tickets so that instantly saved us $50.00, and we bought our tickets at the hotel so we only spent $24.00 to get in.  So, for that price we enjoyed it.  The gardens outside were AMAZING!!  Words can't describe how beautiful they were.

The rest of the museum was very nice, everything was very high quality and nicely done and the message was presented several times.  I guess the name of the museum should have tipped me off, but I wanted more than just creation.  They believe that the world is young, only about 6,000 years old.  That when God created the world in 6 days everything was created then, including Dinosaurs.  That Dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark and just recently died out...  And it seemed the whole museum was about that.  I understand why they believe that, reading the Bible it is right on.  But, I don't think it's imoirtant enough to harp on and harp on...  I don't understand science enough to declare that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  I believe without a doubt that God created the Earth and all living things.  The rest of it is just stuff to not worry about... 
Over all, we decided not to use their science curriculum.  I'm afraid that that's what they will put alot of weight on and I've already heard enough about it... 
Fun, but overkill...

FUN FUN FUN!!!!

I am so excited to start school now!!  We have our curriculum (except our science, which is on back order but should be here next week) and are in BAD need of getting a routine started...  Because I changed my mind SOOOO many times, here's what we're using
-BIBLE- Answer in Genesis' Answers for Kids
-MATH- Horizons (3rd for Wyatt, 4th for Austin)
-READING and SPELLING and VOCAB- AiG Pilgrim's Progress (I'm REALLY excited about this!!)
-GRAMMER AND LANGUAGE- First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Vol 3
-HISTORY- The Mystery of History Vol 1
-SCIENCE- AiG God's Design for the Heaven and Earth
-HEALTH- Horizon's 4th gr. health
-SPANISH- Speak in a Week
And the boys will be doing art, music, gym and library once a week at Gilead Christian School.  Austin is also taking drum lessons and Wyatt is playing soccer and we are ALL doing Cub Scouts.

I havn't done my lesson plans yet because I got my stuff Friday and then left for the night to go to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati.  Super fun, but over priced :)  Now we have to get into the swing of things.  One of the downfalls of homeschooling is I can't work.  Even babysitting made a decent amount of fun cash for us that we won't have now :(  So, we're tightening down the hatches and thinking cheap here.  We know God will bless us for being obediant and doing this, but we have to be good stewards of what he's already blessed us with!!

Forgot...

Hi!!  I totally forgot about this, but wanted to get it going again to help share what we're doing during the school year :)  We're really getting anxious to get started, but will probably really not get into the swing of things til September.  While we've had a really good time babysitting this summer, we're taking a break when Fredericktown School starts to just be us...  We've got some stuff thrown into that though, a trip to COSI and The Columbus Museum of Art, maybe the Dayton Air Force Museum and of course soccer and drum lessons, so I don't feel like it'll be wasted time. 
Other than that nothing really going on here at the Strong house... 

Mother of boys...

So, I was HIGHLY amused at what was coming out of my mouth last night as the Cub Scouts were putting up birdhouses.  "Please don't run down the steep hill with a cordless drill"  "Please don't throw the sledge hammer up in the air and then try to catch it"  "Please don't don't your face after picking up that bottle of antifreeze"  'We found the liscence plate and a shirt, think we'll find a body?"  You know, where is this in the parenting books?  I love my kids...

Beautiful day...

Well, beyond it being Resurrection Sunday, Austin and Wyatt were baptized yesterday.  It was AMAZING to hear them share their testimonies in front of the congregration!  Wyatt saying his too fast and Austin saying his too quietly, but both perfect to their Mommy :)  And then to watch Brian being able to baptize them both.  I am truly blessed!!  It must be God's blessing because I have done NOTHING to deserve such a wonderful family!  My heart swelled with love, joy and pride yesterday at the sight of my two boys taking their first real steps toward being gentlemen.  More than any other thing, this was the first sign that they are growing up.  I'm working myself quickly out of a job!!  It was an amazing day.  He's ALIVE and my children BELIEVE!!!!

Austin's testimony-
I felt scared before I knew Jesus as my savior.  I thought I would go to hell instead of heaven.  I did many bad things because I did not have Jesus in my heart to help me.
I accepted Jesus as my savior on August 8, 2008 at W4 vacation Bible school.  I learned that Jesus is the way to heaven.
Now that I have accepted Jesus in my heart I will go to heaven.  He helps me to remember to do good things and to help other people learn about Him.

Wyatt's testimony-
Before I knew Jesus I was very bad.  These are some of the things I did- I'd swing my cat around by it's tail, hurt other people and disobeyed my mom.
I accepted Jesus in a prayer, my prayer was: Lord, I have been a sinner and I am sorry.  I believe that you died on the cross and rose again from the grave.  I want you in my heart.  I accepted Jesus Christ on March 5, 2006 in my bedrrom.
My life is amazing with Jesus in my heart.  It is also very hard because if someone bes mean to you you have to be's nice to them (bad english his, it's cute!)

Over the cold...

OK, so I'M FREEZING!!!  I just turned my heat on!!!  My fingers kinda have that cold numb feeling as I'm typing!!!  :(  I don't think I've been warm now for 6 months!! Now, I know some you (Jen P) say "well, you live in Ohio, if you want warm, just move"  Really?  Why didn't I think of that!!  I'll just pack up and move to Florida!!  Who needs family, or a house or a job????  UGH.  Seriously though, it's APRIL 22!!!!!  It's not supposed to be 40 degrees out :(  OK, I'm done whining.  I wish I knew how to put video on here, while I'm typing this the boys are dancing to Michael Jackson on Wii and Austin's pants are sagging and he's shaking his booty and you can see his star wars underwear :)  It's adorable!!!! 

Stupid Twilight...

Well, just so you know, I'm all about transparency here.  It's kinda the point of the whole thing.  So, here's my honesty of the day.  I have done nothing but read for the last week!!  I think my husband is going to murder me!!  It all started because Austin wanted to read the Harry Potter books.  So, I reread them to make sure which ones he could read (the first 2).  Then, when I was done reading those I realized I hadn't read Twilight in a long time, so I decided to borrow them from my brother and read those again.  I picked them up at 8 Monday night, after Wyatt's soccer game.  I just finished the third one and it's takin ALL my self control not to start the next one til after I clean house!!  Ugh!!!  It's kinda embarrassing...  I mean really, I'm reading books with a 5th grade reading level and ignoring everything else!!  I havn't even done my quiet time this week!!  It's like saying Twilight is more important than Jesus!!  OUCH!!!  There's a big part of me that says "just hurry up and finish the book, then your life will move on!!"  LOL  I mean seriously, the Twilight books are terrible...  At least Harry Potter is believable... 

Why can't we all just get along?

You know, there's a few subjects that just seem to get people fired up!  And as voting day gets closer and there's a school levy on the ballot people are getting VERY fired up.  The problem is that all this does is divide people, because we can't agree to disagree.  Oh no.  I'm right and your wrong is the attitude.  And since this particular issue involves the school there's instantly anger that if you vote no it's because you don't love kids and you don't care about teachers.  I was like that a year ago when it was on the ballot then!!  I made nasty comments and yelled at people!!  Ugh.  Sorry.  The fact of the matter is I love all kids and think that teachers have a very important job and deserve many things.  Our kids don't deserve to have music and gym and art taken away from them and taking library away is just plain stupid.  BUT, the system is broken.  And giving them more money won't fix anything.  They can't even tell us if those cuts will be given back if the levy passes!  The administration will still make double what the teachers make, the kids will still be driven by these stupid tests and teachers (and most gov't employees) will still get benefits that no one in the public sector would ever be able to afford because it would bankrupt their businesses.  So, there you go.  I'm undecided, can you tell?

heehee

So, the little boys this morning (who are really not so little anymore) got up on the WRONG side of the bed!!  They woke up grouching at each other!!  "Wyatt, stop looking at me!!"  "Why, I'm only trying to set you on fire" "Mom, Wyatt's going to set me on fire by looking at me!!" "Really?  How old are you?  Arn't you aware that's not possible!!  Get dressed" "But I don't want to get dressed, why do I have to?" "Fine, go to school naked" "(crying) why are you so mean?" "ugh"
But, by the time they walked out the door to play in the rain they were laughing and seeing how loud they could scream together- just to annoy me!!  Sometimes I wonder if they're main goal in life will always be to annoy me?  Some days I wonder...

Gray day...

I have finally figured out that winter depresses me, or at least the end.  I hate the gray!!  Like today, it just hangs everywhere and seems to come inside me and zap any joy out of me.  And then I'm filled with sad thoughts, thoughts I know I've turned over to God but I bring up to the surface every now and again to hurt myself with.  I have no desire to do anything and even less desire to seek God's company!!  And so, as the gray days continue I end up in 'the pit'.  This year, I've caught myself doing it, or God brought it to my attention, and instead of falling all the way to the bottom I feel like I've caught a branch on the side and am holding on to that.  Instead of hitting rock bottom and becoming bitter and angry and sullen and depressed, I am reaching out to friends to pray for me.  I'm forcing myself to do a Bible study even though I don't want to.  Everytime a terrible thought or an inappropriate daydream comes into my mind I grab it captive and give it back to God.  I feel like I'm fighting an unseen war!!  And the gray is fighting against me. 
But then I see sunshine and I turn my face towards it and soak it in.  I feel warth and picture Jesus wrapping His arms around me.  I see His promises in His word that I'm begrudingly reading and each promise is a foot hold out of the pit!!  "He has a plan for me" "He loves me so much He sent His son" "He is everlasting" "He keeps His promises" "He is in all and above all".  Maybe now that I'm aware of satan's schemes when the gray days come next year I'll be on the defense when it comes and I'll be able to fight it off instead of having to fight my way out...
Dennis said that on Monday of Holy week, Jesus went into the temple and cleared out the things that were unholy, that were taking advantage of the people trying to bring true worship to Him.  Will you join me in asking Jesus into the temple of OUR hearts and ask HIm to clear the things block us from bringing HIm true worship?  For me it's my desire for more and my negative thoughts towards myself.  I pray now that Christ will strip that from me!!

Today...

So, let me explain where we've been in recent times...  Brian got offered to go work up in the Cleveland area.  It was a pretty big promotion so we said yes.  However, we had a small piece of info that his work didn't have.  We knew that the guy here in Mansfield doing the same job was quitting.  So, we waited and waited and when he quit Bri got offerd the promotion HERE.  Very exciting!!  However, it leaves us with many decisions now...  We want to get into mini farming, but only live on 1 acre on a state route- so do we move?  Do we just try to buy an acre behind us (there's a huge corn field behind us)?  Or do we stay here and just get some chickens and nothing else?  And now Brian has to buy a vehicle...  do we just buy a cheap car that will run like crap and bleed us?  Do we buy a decent car with good gas mileage?  Or a truck?  Or a small SUV?  Or?  Or?  Or?  What to do, what to do...  So, we're praying that God will help us with these mundane things we're considering...
But then we went and worked at an inner-city church in Columbus today.  I helped in the nursery with kids 4 and under.  This one very sweet little boy smelled and was obviously dirty.  He had on tennis shoes that were too small and had holes in them and you could see his toes without socks.  It seems terrible to keep wanting more when so many have none.  My kids will never have to wear shoes that have holes on the sides.  They will always be loved and well cared for, does it matter if they don't live on a mini farm?  We are so blessed, and I need to spend more time being thankful for the blessings I have and how I can use them to further the kingdom...
Jesus rode into Jeruselem on a donkey 2000 some years ago, entering the last week of His life, preparing to die for my sins, so that I would be able to go Heaven and be able to say "I am forgiven, I am Christ's!!  He bought me from hell and I belong here now!!"  What's more important than any of those "life changing decisions" is how can I live my life to better portray that? 

Politics...

Oh the most heated subject ever!!!!
I typed it all out and then felt guilty and erased it...  Ugh, I have no balls...

Homeschooling

Well, Brian and I have decided to homeschool next year. One of the first questions is why. Well, it really has little to do with our unhappiness with the school, though that is what lead us to choose this. Our main priority as parents, we feel, is to make them responsible and high functioning adults with a strong relationship with Christ. Our boys get on the school bus at 8am and get back home at 4pm. Austin, who is usually behind, usually has about 45 minutes of homework (that sometimes takes up to an hour and a half). Wyatt usually gets his done in about 25 minutes. Then we have soccer, scouts or church. Add dinner and baths and it's bedtime!! We have NO time as a family and not nearly enough time to influence our kids the way we want to. So, we started looking into it. Homeschooling is not what it used to be. It's not just for the religous freaks. The kids are not poor shy unsolcialized kids. The parents arn't parents who just can't bare to be away from their kids. Their are still some obnoxious people out there who homeschool. I know of one child who is especially obnoxious who tells kids who are in public how their parents don't love them!! LOL We are not such a family, we do not think that this is the BEST or ONLY way to educate your kids. It just seems to work out for us. The second question is always what do the boys think about it, which amuses me. If your kid didn't want to go to school, wouldn't you still send them? So what does it matter if my kids don't want to do it? We are the parents, and WE make the decisions for the family!! That being said, Austin has been thrilled from the get go and Wyatt is pretty excited now too :) Both are excited to learn from Christian curriculum, have shorter days and go on field trips. We also found a great co op program (more on that later) to go to once once a week and they have some friends in it already, so they're excited for that too :) Third question? What are you going to use? Well, my close friends are sick of hearing about this since I'm so excited so I'm kinda excited to type it all out!! LOL I had planned on using all one curriculum so it would be easier but after going to the homeschool conference and looking around I realized there was no program I liked ALL of, so it's all miss matched :) For math (the only subject they'll be seperated for) they'll be using HORIZON'S 3rd and 4th grade. I liked it because it had color on the pages :) Also, this and everything else very plainly splits the lessons and days up. For Language arts and reading I'm using Christian Light Publications. I like the seperate workbooks and the that the stories have character lessons in them. They'll both be doing 4th grade since Wyatt is so advanced in reading. For spelling though we are using the Charlotte Mason method, which is they learn verses and quotes and must learn to spell all the words and use correct puncuation in them. I think it'll be much more interesting than a list of words. Austin may struggle with it at first, but I'm hoping the one on one will have a huge impact on him. History I am very excited about!! We are using Mystery of History which puts Bible stories in chronological order with "secular" history. I can't wait to read this!! Science we will be doing Apologia's Astronomy. We will also be throwing in some health lessons. We'll be doing Daily Geography from Timberdoodle for geography. A couple good friends from church attend a program at Gilead Christian for homeschoolers that we have decided to join. We'll go on Weds and the boys will get to have art, music, gym, library and lunch and recess with kids their age! I think this is perfect!! They'll also have testing there at the end f the year. I'll meet with director once a month for her to look over the boys work to make sure they are progressing correctly and help me with any areas we are struggling with. So, there you go, our plans for next year!! We can't wait!! Only 7 more weeks of school!!!!!!

Hmmm

OK, I like this one better... I'll use this one, it's prettier :)